Recycled Water for Cooling Towers to Minimize Corrosion and Prevent Scaling

Given the large consumption of water by cooling towers in oil refineries and other chemical plants, it is necessary to find methods to treat and reuse water to minimize corrosion and scaling. Recycled water tends to have higher chloride levels, and when combined with high temperatures can lead to excessive corrosion throughout the cooling towers. This can cause shorten the life of the cooling towers and lead to increased maintenance costs for the manufacturers. Certain microbes can also lead to corrosion in the cooling towers from oxidizing bacteria. Feed water high in phosphates and sulfates from cleaning cycles contribute to large amounts of scaling, which makes it difficult to meet the recycled water standards set by municipal wastewater facilities.

Synder’s NFX membrane has been very effective for the desalination of recycled water in cooling towers, and can operate using lower energy consumption than typical reverse osmosis membranes. This can reduce overall capital costs through the prevention of corrosion and scaling in the cooling towers.